American and Delta are ending a longstanding "interline" agreement that allows them to easily put passengers on each other's flights.

"We have been unable to come to terms on an agreement with Delta and, as a result, have mutually agreed to end our interline agreement effective Sept. 15," American Airlines spokesman Casey Norton says in a statement to Today in the Sky. No further negotiations are currently planned.

In its own statement, Delta indicated that the sticking point was an imbalance in passengers needing to be rebooked during irregular operations -- or IROPS, in airline parlance.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't reach an agreement with American that adequately addressed the number of IROPs customers that American transferred to us,” Eric Phillips, Delta's SVP – Revenue Management, says in a statement. “In July, for example, American sent passengers to Delta for reaccommodation at a five-to-one ratio. At that rate the industry agreement was no longer mutually beneficial.”

American and Delta are ending a longstanding "interline" agreement that allows them to easily put passengers on each other's flights.

"We have been unable to come to terms on an agreement with Delta and, as a result, have mutually agreed to end our interline agreement effective Sept. 15," American Airlines spokesman Casey Norton says in a statement to Today in the Sky. No further negotiations are currently planned.

In its own statement, Delta indicated that the sticking point was an imbalance in passengers needing to be rebooked during irregular operations -- or IROPS, in airline parlance.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't reach an agreement with American that adequately addressed the number of IROPs customers that American transferred to us,” Eric Phillips, Delta's SVP – Revenue Management, says in a statement. “In July, for example, American sent passengers to Delta for reaccommodation at a five-to-one ratio. At that rate the industry agreement was no longer mutually beneficial.”

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Thanks for posting, brodyf! This is sad news. I'd guess that "interline" agreement between AA and DL has been in place for a very long time. IIRC, I was on IRROPS with AA some 20 years ago, and DL was used by AA to get me on a return trip back home. If it's any consolation, many of DL's customers have also "not been able to come to terms" with them in recent years!

Interesting... there seems to be a sort of arrogance creeping into everything Delta does these days ( Chap 11 did'nt occur a few years back did It? ) as evidenced in the way they handle their now
non-existent partnership with Alaska and even more so their obvious and not at all subtle attempt of getting rid of their Skymiles program. ( witness the removal of their award charts etc, etc)

Four times, twice AA to UAL. Once AA to NWA ( remember them?? ) and from NWA to AA to spend the Millenium 2000 (remember that? ) in Las Vegas.
Crazy trip that was since I was originally flying TPA/LAS and ended up flying NWA TPA/MEM then MEM/ORD/LAS on AA in a snowstorm.... and the crazy part of the trip didn't start till I got to Vegas.

AA has interlined me to AS, DL, and UA in IROP situations this year. UA moved me to DL at least once last year, and AA moved me to DL for 5 segments. Nearly half of my 2014 flights on DL were IROP interline situations.

One thing is pretty obvious is that of all the airlines DL has been the most reluctant to interline pax ... seems they would prefer to refund fares (especially low cost ones ) rather than pay the cash to another carrier. So if the incredible 5:1 ratio is to be believed it most definitely has been skewed by their own modus operandi.
How convenient that they can use this ratio as some sort of defense is this episode.

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